{"id":3222,"date":"2022-04-26T13:35:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T12:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/?page_id=3222"},"modified":"2025-05-02T17:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T16:01:07","slug":"fife-pilgrim-way","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/?page_id=3222","title":{"rendered":"Fife Pilgrim Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Markinch St Drostan\u2019s Church<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Heart of Fife Parish<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The church is open daily from 10.30am until 4.30pm with guides on hand.<br \/>Take a full guided tour of the church or wander around on your own.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">The Churchyard is open at all times<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">If you would like fuller access to the 12th century tower<br \/>or to make a future arrangement for a guided tour of the church,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">PLEASE PHONE<br \/>Bruce Manson 07795 901366<br \/>Douglas Galbraith 01592 752403<br \/>Ken Wilkie 07740 416831<br \/>who can be with you in a few minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>From Leslie to Markinch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leaving Leslie, the path crosses the River Leven and continues through an attractive wooded area, keeping by the river. After the path drops down to an underpass under the main road (A911), look right just before a play area where you may reflectively walk the Labyrinth, here created by St Columba\u2019s Parish Church at the heart of Glenrothes, and based on the 12<sup>th<\/sup> century example in Chartres Cathedral. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.st-columbas.com\">https:\/\/www.st-columbas.com<\/a>). Other features of interest in this section include the 4,000 year old Balfarg Henge amidst the new housing just before crossing the A92, the Stone Circle in Balbirnie Park and the ancient Stob Cross as you leave the Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Balbirnie Park, turn left at the golf shop, continue past the club house, then turn right to follow the smaller river. Exiting the Park, turn right towards the church, noting the Markinch Gateway board on your right as you go up. (The turn can easily be missed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">St Drostan\u2019s Church, with its early 12<sup>th<\/sup> century tower, is open daily in season with guides on hand [for times see above]. Although the current building was remodelled several times through the centuries, clues to its former appearance remain, while its 12<sup>th<\/sup> century tower remains intact. St Drostan was a follower of St Columba, who was active in Aberdeenshire, where the Macduffs of Markinch would have had land holdings. It is believed that at one time, the old church may well have housed a relic associated with the saint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The churchyard is also one of the stops on the \u2018Footsteps of Kings\u2019 trail, where children may download an app enabling them to fire virtual arrows towards the Bow Butts below. Don\u2019t miss some of the hundreds of masons\u2019 marks in the tower, or the cross from the Pilgrim Way logo, which can be seen in the church balcony following recent excavations of the 12<sup>th<\/sup> century arch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearby is the former seat of justice, at Northhall, which gives Markinch its title as the \u2018ancient capital of Fife\u2019. In town, there are caf\u00e9s, stores, hotels, a chemist, and an information board about the district. The route then continues to Ceres via Brunton Road, at the foot of Glass Street at the right-angled bend into the High Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Markinch St Drostan\u2019s Church The Heart of Fife Parish The church is open daily from 10.30am until 4.30pm with guides on hand.Take a full guided &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3222","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3222"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3409,"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3222\/revisions\/3409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.markinchchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}